RISE Processum – Work your way up with our Test & Demo

RISE Processum

Work your way up with our Test & Demo Use our competence and infrastructure to accelerate biorefinery ideas to tomorrow’s business 1

All you need in one place • RISE Processum is an innovative and flexible biorefinery development partner • We offer a complete chain of development resources from laboratory to demo scale • RISE Processum frequently collaborates with industry, institutes and universities • Our development resources are used in both large collaboration projects and contract research • As part of RISE we have, in total, access to over a hundred test beds and demonstration facilities throughout Sweden

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Our competence at your service Test & Demo A scale for every need It starts in the laboratory System of bioreactors Pilot scale Thermochemical pre-treatment Biochemical conversion Thermochemical synthesis

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13 CNC pilot 14 Hydrothermal conversion 16 Downstream processing 18 Open facilities boost commercialization 19 Demo scale 20 Biochemical conversion demonstration 21 Chemical conversion demonstration 22 RISE Processum in a nutshell 24 Contact us

Our competence at your service We take on customer assignments for the whole process, from concept, through tests using the pilot equipment to report preparation. Processum has gradually built up a wide range of skills and expertise in the fields of biotechnology and chemi­stry, which are offered as a part of our Test & Demo facilities. Member companies and universities, as well as external companies, can utilize the resources at Processum. We do the practical work and the customer gets to keep the results. Our customer assignments are always treated strictly confidentially.

Being a member of the Processum Interest Association gives several advantages.

Examples are: Possibility to carry out biorefinery projects with the R&D council in collaboration with: • other companies • universities • institutes • other partners Access to useful networks with competence and equipment.

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Test & Demo FROM PROJECT TO PRODUCTION

Recycled material and waste Pretreatment

Reactors

Downstream processing

Wood and agro feedstock Separation

The lab, pilot and demo facilities provide great opportunities for national and international companies, institutes and universities to bring promising biorefinery projects closer to full scale production and market introduction.

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Lignin Chemicals Proteins/Enzymes Materials

HIGH VALUE

Carbohydrates

New products

Ethanol

Our competence and infrastructure make it possible to respond to different needs and solve problems in order to develop projects or produce substances for further development. We have access to large biorefinery area networks and can link new ideas with companies and academia in our clusters.

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A scale for every need DEMO SCALE

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PILOT SCALE

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DEMONSTRATE

VERIFY

LAB SCALE INVESTIGATE

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There is often a need to go up and down in scales during different phases of a develop­ment process.

New findings in laboratory research need to be verified in a larger scale. Lessons learned in larger scale might require further laboratory research.

Processum develops a range of processes from laboratory to demo scale.

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1 | LA B SCA L E | I NV E ST IG A T E

It starts in the laboratory Your ideas for a new product or process based on biomass, industrial residual streams or waste can be efficiently tested in laboratory scale. We can perform screening and optimization in order to find the best concept for further upscaling.

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The biotechnology laboratory

System of bioreactors To perform efficient and precise upscaling of biochemical processes Processum has, aside from small scale biotech labs, a system of bench scale bioreactors. There are twelve 1 litre reactors, four 3 litre reactors and two 4 litre reactors in the lab environment. While working out the optimized settings and conditions for biological processes it is a great advantage to be able to perform parallel runs. This reduces the time and resources needed to perform a design of several different conditions.

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2 | PI LOT SC A L E | V E RI F Y

Pilot scale Ideas that have been successfully developed in the laboratory can be verified in pilot scale by using our extensive pilot park.

By using the pilot equipment sequentially, we can simulate real production processes in order to test and verify concepts.

If pilot trials show that more laboratory tests are required, these can be done on-site before returning to pilot scale.

EXAMPLE OF A PROCESS, FROM LIGNOCELLULOSE TO FISH FEED Enzymatic hydrolysis

Cultivation

Drying

LIGNOCELLULOSE

r s r r s or ie es to de es ct Dr pr ac in pr ea r re Gr r e o e lt Bi lt Fi Fi

SINGLE CELL PROTEIN

B

r io

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Pre-treatment reactor

Thermochemical pre-treatment The biomass pre-treatment pilot consists of a reactor and an expansion tank. The reactor has a volume of 40 litres and withstands a pressure of more than 30 bar, a tempe­rature of 230°C and a wide pH range. Various types of biomass can be treated in the reactor with high pressure direct steam.

The reactor draining creates a steam explosion which opens up the biomass structure and makes the biomass polymers more accessible for subsequent processes.

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Bioreactor hall

Biochemical conversion Processum’s pilot scale bioreactors are used for enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass and fermentation.

The reactors have volumes of 50 and 600 litres and can be opera­ted in batch, fed-batch or continuous mode. The bioreactors are designed for both aerobic and anaerobic processes.

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Development work in the ATEX facility

Thermochemical synthesis The system contains two batch reactors, flow reactor, gasliquid reactor, soxhlet reactor, heating system and a control system. The equipment is placed in a fire and explosion safe (ATEX) facility. A wide range of processes and products can be developed by combining the different reactors. All reactors can withstand high temperatures and high pressures.

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Crystalline nanocellulose

CNC pilot Crystalline nanocellulose has many interesting characteristics and could be used as e.g. building materials, biocomposites, printed electronics and colour additives. The CNC pilot is based on technology developed by the Israeli company Melodea. The pilot is the first of its kind in Europe and is an important step for companies interested in further application development based on crystalline nanocellulose on a large scale. Apart from pure research and upscaling, with a reactor capacity of 1 m3 we aim to provide enough amounts of crystalline nanocellulose for application trials.

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Hydrothermal conversion Processum’s range of Test & Demo also includes equipment for hydro­ thermal processes that can be used not only for small batch and semicontinuous tests, but also for more industry-relevant continuous tests for both the carbonization (HTC) and liquefaction (HTL) of biomaterial.

A hydrothermal process is a tech­ nology used to transform a water suspension of biomass or other raw materials at high pressure and high temperatures into gas, liquid or solid components. Hydrothermal processes have the advantage that you can work with wet materials i.e., the raw materials don’t need to be dried first.

Gas BIO MASS

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HTL

Liquid

HTC

Solid

Hydrothermal liquefaction, HTL Used to convert biomass into liquid (usually biooil) by small batch and semi-continuous tests, but also for more industryrelevant continuous tests.

Temperature: Approxi足ma足tely 350 degrees Celsius Pressure: Approximately 200 bar

Hydrothermal liquefaction pilot

Test scale: From tens of grams to one kilo of biooil per run

Hydrothermal carbonisation, HTC A technology used to convert wet organic material (usually biosludge) into solid material (biocoal) by small batch and continuous tests.

Temperature: Approxi足ma足tely 200 degrees Celsius Pressure: Approximately 20 bar

Hydrothermal carbonisation pilot

Test scale: From tens of grams to tens of kilos of biocoal per run 15

Nutsche filter

Grinder

Downstream processing A number of pilots are available in order to simulate a complete production process and to facilitate downstream processing. Chemical syntheses, fermentation and enzymatic treatment require different kinds of downstream processing. Thus, Processum has a number of supporting pilots performing filtration, extraction, evaporation, crystallisation, distillation, dewatering and grinding.

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Evaporator

Decanter centrifuge

Filter presses

High speed centrifuges

Liquid-liquid extraction

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C-green has its head office in Stockholm, but still chose to locate the HTC-pilot facility in Örnsköldsvik, because of the infrastructure in form of premises, and the mechanical and instrument-based competence.

Open facilities boost commercialization The RISE Processum Test & Demo is an open environment that is available to companies, researchers and others. The site in Örnsköldsvik is also a place where third party technology developers choose to place their equipment which gives them proximity to other equipment, well equipped laboratories and of course easy access to various experts on the site.

“We have a very good collaboration with Processum and their engineers help us operate the facility.”

Fredrik Lundqvist, co-founder of C-green

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3 | DEM O SC A L E | DE M ON ST RA T E

Demo scale The last piece of the experimental puzzle is the demonstration of a complete process where focus is on simulating as closely as possible the full scale scenario. Biochemical processes that have been developed in pilot scale can be demonstrated at the Biorefinery Demo Plant, while chemical processes can be demonstrated in the ATEX classed chemical conversion facility at Processum.

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Biorefinery Demo Plant

Biochemical conversion demonstration In the Biorefinery Demo Plant (BDP), biochemical industrial process conditions can be demonstrated in a continuous process.

Development is, in many cases, an iterative process in different scales before the product or the process is ready for commercialization. The plant is operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It has a feedstock capacity of 1-2 tonnes per 24h and features a 10 m3 cultivation tank, four bioreactors Ă 10 m3, distillation column and a large-scale downstream processing unit. The results can then be used for design and business potential analysis of full scale plants (CAPEX and OPEX). Furthermore, large product volumes for market studies and customer trials can be produced.

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Flexible and continuous test runs

Chemical conversion demonstration Processum’s EX-class facility is also built for demonstration of continuous chemical processes with the capacity of 1 kg/h. The facility is flexible and can be adapted to your specific process in need of demonstration. Optimised automated processes can be run around the clock from our control room to demonstrate new processes and products.

Just like a full-scale process!

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The company was started in 2003 and is situated in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. Processum supports and initiates research and development within biorefinery. Together with other biorefinery initia­tives, our cluster with partners from indu­ stry, academy and public sector constitu­tes an important hub for development of new pro­ducts, processes and energy solutions from wood raw material and residual streams from the process industry. We collaborate with national as well as international partners. Processum is a sub­ sidiary of RISE Research institutes of Sweden, owned 60 % by RISE and 40 % by the companies in the Processum Interest Association.

You can find more information on our website: www.processum.se

RISE Processum in a nutshell 23

You are welcome to contact us for more information

Karin Johnson

Gunnar Westin

Tel. +46 10 516 67 68 karin.johnson@processum.se

Tel. +46 10 516 67 57 gunnar.westin@processum.se

RISE PROCESSUM AB Box 70, SE-891 22 ร rnskรถldsvik, Sweden Tel. +46 10 516 67 50 research@processum.se www.processum.se | www.ri.se